


Stay

by Katybug1992



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Infidelity, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23948110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katybug1992/pseuds/Katybug1992
Summary: Every time Mitch asks Auston to stay. Every time, Auston says not yet.Mitch decides it's time to stop asking and to move on.
Relationships: Leon Draisaitl/Mitch Marner, Mitch Marner & William Nylander, Mitch Marner/Auston Matthews
Comments: 3
Kudos: 121





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

> Based on "Stay" by Sugarland

Mitch knew how the night was going to end before it even started. They were coming off a close victory but Auston had gotten two goals. So after his two or three drinks, he would crowd up behind Mitch for a dance or two and then drag Mitch out of the bar and into an Uber to Mitch’s place - because it was always Mitch’s place. Victoria didn’t like it when Auston came home drunk and didn’t mind if he hooked up with Mitch and Auston liked how easy Mitch always was for him. Because Mitch really was easy for him. It was a problem.

It never took long for Auston to fall asleep after he came. He tended to roll off of Mitch, slap an arm around Mitch’s waist and pass out. And Mitch tended to watch the clock on his nightstand, knowing he had maybe an hour or two before Auston’s phone would be ringing and his girlfriend would be asking him to come back home. And then Mitch would ask him to stay and Auston would leave and Mitch would be alone...again.

And it wasn’t like Mitch hadn’t tried to let go of this thing. He knew it wasn’t healthy. He had tried to get a boyfriend of his own. But Auston would get jealous and it never went further than a couple dates. If he tried to pick up when he went out with the team, Auston was there - slipping up behind him and calling him babe or using his death glare to chase the poor guy away from Mitch.

And Auston was the one he fell into bed with time and time again. Only to wake up to an empty apartment. Or worse, wake up to Auston’s girlfriend calling him to tell him it was time for him to go home. She didn’t care if he fucked Mitchy as long as he came home after. Sure enough, she calls about an hour after Auston passed out and Mitch closes his eyes so that Auston will think he’s sleeping - and so he doesn’t have to see Auston get dressed and leave.

“Stay.” he tried to keep any trace of pleading out of his voice as he croaks out his request, knowing that Auston will have the same response he always has.

“Not yet.” Auston replies, “Soon. But not yet.”

And then he’s gone. And Mitch curls in on himself trying to swallow down the temptation to cry. When he settles on that being a losing battle, he glances at the time before calling Connor. He manages to wait until Connor answers before the first sob escapes. And he knows he has to settle for the phone. Connor is in Edmonton, Chucky is in Calgary (though Mitch would be hesitant to get him involved in this since Auston is his friend as well), Dvo is in Arizona, Stromer is in Chicago...he can’t bring anyone from the team into this. He won’t bring anyone from the team into this. Because he doesn’t want anyone to feel like they have to pick sides. And, at the end of the day, Auston is the future of the franchise. He’s the Superstar. 

And Connor does what he can over the phone, which isn’t much. And Mitch hears the door open and close and hopes in vain that it’s Auston, changing his mind. But when he   
glances up, he sees Willy standing in the doorway - looking heartbroken for Mitch.

“I figured you could use a friend.” Connor tells him, “I stole Nylander’s number last time you and I saw each other. You don’t have to go through this alone. Your teammates - your friends - care about you, Mitchy.”

Mitch hangs up and Willy slips into the bed, tightening his grip on Mitch as he finally lets everything out, And he knows he’s gross right now. He knows that there’s tears and snot soaking Willy’s t-shirt. He knows that Willy probably can’t understand half the words coming out of his mouth - Willy isn’t anywhere near fluent in Hysterical Mitch and Connor probably should have warned him what he was walking into before telling him to go over to Mitch’s.

“I love him.” Mitch chokes out, “I love him so much it hurts. And he says he loves me to, and that he’s going to break up with Victoria, but he never does.”

“Matty’s a jerk,” Willy tells him as he runs one hand up and down Mitch’s back and the other through Mitch’s hair, “he’s a jerk for treating you like this.”

“He’s not -”

“Don’t defend him, Mitchy. You don’t always have to be his defender. You can let people state facts about him that aren’t positive. He’s a jerk. He’s been doing this to you for a long time but gets pissed off if you even think about going home with someone else. He doesn’t get to keep you and have his girl. He needs to make a decision.”

“He’s going to pick her. He always does.”

“Then it’s time to let him go.”

“I’ve tried.”

“You got me in your corner now. I’ll help you. And you’ll always have McDavid and Strome. And they are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to you.”

It wasn’t easy and it took a lot of effort but Mitch slowly stopped going home with Auston, either slipping out before Auston got to the point where he was ready to go or Willy “accidentally” cockblocked them. And he knew it was confusing Auston. But slowly, almost snails pace, it was getting easier for Mitch to tell Auston “no”, it was getting easier to not need to leave early or have Willy need to step in. Willy still kept a close eye on him, though. When Auston asked him about it, Willy had responded that someone needed to look out for Mitchy. Auston’s face had become pinched after that but he didn’t press.

And when they next played the Oilers, Willy invited himself along to go to dinner with Mitch and Connor - who had been keeping tabs on Mitch through Willy.  
Mitch was, however, surprised to see that Connor wasn’t alone.

“Mitchy,” Connor grinned after hugging him tightly, “this is Leo.”

“Connor, I know who Leon Draisaitl is.” Mitch replied fondly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Leon grinned, “You know, when I’m not trying to keep up with you on the ice.”

Mitch laughed, ducking his head down with a smile.

Willy not so subtly sat them at a two person table and grabbed on for himself and Connor little further away. Mitch just shook his head. 

“They’re not the most subtle, are they?” Leo asked with a laugh.

“Nothing about William Nylander has ever been subtle.” Mitch replied with a grin.

Leo barked out a laugh at that and Mitch finally felt himself able to let go of that little piece of Auston that had been sticking to him stubbornly.

A couple days later, the team was at a bar and Mitch was texting Leo - the Oilers hadn’t had a game so Leo and Connor had watched the Leafs’ game and had seen Mitch’s spectacular performance - when Auston came over, leaning heavily against Mitch.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Mitch nodded, ignoring Willy’s concerned glance, “I’ll drop you off at yours, help you get in.”

“But Victoria’s there.” Auston’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“Yeah, Victoria’s there, your girlfriend.” Mitch responded, “Aus, I love you, bud, but I’m done. I can’t anymore. So, I’m ending this. You have Victoria and I have...I have a potential someone. Do you need me to take you home or can you get an Uber on your own?”

Auston looked at him like he had grown a second head before mumbling that he would get an Uber.

“Proud of you, Mitchy,” Willy muttered, bumping his shoulder against Mitch’s, “You gonna go home and call Leo?”

“Yeah.” Mitch grinned. He chewed on his lip for a little bit before saying, “He’s a really nice guy, Willy. I think I really like him.”

“Connor thinks he really likes you.” Willy replied with a grin.

“Since when are you and Davo buddies?”

“Since he asked me to keep an eye on you.” Willy replied, expression sobering, “We’re so used to you being the happy one, you know? No one ever questions whether it’s real or not, we never really ask you how you’re feeling. We just assume you’re okay. We always have.”

“I’m okay, Willy.” Mitch smiles over at him.

“Yeah, now you are.” Willy shoots back, “But you weren’t - for a long time, you weren’t. And none of us noticed.”

“But I am now.” Mitch nudged him.

“Still. I got my eye on you, Marner.” 

Mitch laughed and leaned against him for a minute before saying, “I really am gonna head out, call Leo.”

“Have a good night, Mitchy,” Willy nudged him out of the booth and toward the door, “I’ll make sure Matty gets in an Uber safely.

Mitch laughed and pulled his coat on, shooting one more look at Auston before leaving, smiling broadly as Leo sent him a selfie of him pouting because Connor stole all the fries off his plate.

“Hey.” he greeted as he answered the phone, voice soft but fond, “You should know better than to sit next to Davo when you have fries. If he doesn’t order then, he doesn’t have to feel guilty about eating them.”

Leo laughed on the other end of the line before congratulating him on his game that night before they slipped into talking about their days.

“So,” Leo draws out, “I was looking at our schedules and it looks like we have overlapping days in Manhattan coming up. Would you, maybe, want to get dinner with me? Just us this time.”

“I would really like that.” Mitch grinned.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Great! I’ll start planning.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Eventually it got later and Mitch had to hang up. He texted Willy that he and Leo had a date coming up and he ignored Auston’s texts. Auston was going to be a mountain he climbed eventually - probably tomorrow at practice because Auston didn’t like being ignored and he really didn’t like Mitch ignoring him - but he would deal with that tomorrow. 

Tonight, he got ready for bed and sent Leo a sleepy selfie wishing him a good night before double checking his alarm was set before slipping off to sleep.


End file.
